SYSTRA praised by COSEA at the internal inauguration of the SEA line

The South Europe Atlantic (SEA) high speed line was inaugurated at a ceremony on Friday 12 May by the management of COSEA, the design and build consortium led by VINCI Construction. At the event, attended by several political figures as well as SYSTRA representatives, the teams that contributed to the project were congratulated on their achievement.

COSEA celebrates the success of Europe’s largest high speed line project

Xavier Huillard, Chairman and CEO of VINCI, took part in the inauguration alongside COSEA project directors Xavier Neuschwander, Gilles Godard and Bernard Godinot, as well as members of VINCI Construction’s senior management team. Dominique Bussereau, President of the Departmental Council of Charente-Maritime and former French State Secretary for Transport, plus local and regional professionals, also participated in the ceremony, organised by Erik Leleu, Head of Human Resources at COSEA.

Around 1,000 people attended the inauguration, which was held at the foot of the Dordogne viaduct. Addressing his thanks to all participants, Xavier Huillard praised the success of this major undertaking, highlighting its exceptional scope. The project required 300km of new high speed track (the longest in Europe) and 9,000 people were involved at the work’s peak. Huillard also noted that government commitments had been met in the first rail public-private partnership on this scale in the country, and that collaboration between all the partner companies over six years of design and construction had succeeded in delivering the project not only on time but slightly ahead of schedule.

200 SYSTRA employees in attendance

SYSTRA was represented by Pierre Verzat, Chief Executive Officer, Jean-Claude Zabée, Senior Vice President of France, Gérard Schneider, Head of National Projects and Private Partnerships, and Karine Meyer, SEA Department Manager, as well as project directors and business unit heads.

Many people from across the business attended, from sub-groups in charge of design, superstructure, signalling, telecommunications, and energy, to those who worked with COSEA’s project management and testing teams. Almost 200 employees of the SYSTRA Group, many of whom are now working on other projects, where reunited for this celebration.

An example for the future of high-speed rail

SYSTRA would like to add its thanks to all our employees for their hard work; work that was acknowledged, praised, and celebrated by VINCI’s senior management. This large-scale SEA project enabled the Group to become a trusted partner of the construction firm.
As Dominique Bussereau mentioned in his speech, this line also opens up future prospects in terms of the south-west railway project (GPSO), involving a new high speed rail line between Bordeaux and Toulouse.